Nathan Patterson, Ph.D.

Ph.D.

Mechanical Engineering

Purdue University

2009

M.S.

Mechanical Engineering

Purdue University

2006

B.S.

Mechanical Engineering

Michigan State University

2004

Randy Stevens Scholarship

2016
Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG)

International Serious Play Competition Bronze Award

2011
Virulent, Morgridge Institute for Research

Magoon Excellence in Teaching Award

2009
Purdue University

Fixed printhead fused filament fabrication printer and method

US8944802B2

2014

A fused filament fabrication printer uses a plurality of fixed printing heads mounted to a structure over a build platform on which the model is built by constructing each layer of the model as the build platform is indexed through a multiplicity of successive print planes. The build platform may be in the form of a circular disk mounted for rotation about a z-axis and for linear motion along the z-axis between successive print planes, and for linear motion along a y-axis which is a selected radial direction perpendicular to the z-axis. Because the printheads are fixed, multiple printheads are easily affixed with respect to the build platform along the same radial line defining the y-axis transverse to the selected radial direction along which the build platform moves.

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3D printer and printhead unit with multiple filaments

US8827684B1

2014

A fused filament fabrication printer has a fixed extrusion module having multiple printheads having print tips. The fixed arrangement of the printing heads allows the close spacing of multiple print tips in a printhead unit, and the simple routing of multiple plastic or metal filaments to the individual printing heads. The closely spaced print tips in the printhead unit share common components. An exemplary printhead unit has four printing heads which share a common heating block and heating block temperature sensor. The heating block incorporates a group of four print tips evenly spaced along a line. Each printing head has a separate filament which is controlled and driven by its own stepper motor through the heating block to one of the print tips. Printing of a part is by control of individual stepper motors which drive filaments through the heating block and through one of the printing tips.

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Three-dimensional printing system using dual rotation axes

US8778252B2

2014

A 3-D printer system moves a printed tool over a print surface with a mechanism controlling a rotational angle of an arm holding the print tool and a revolutionary angle of axis of rotation of the printable area to eliminate the disadvantages of conventionally used linear motion mechanisms.

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Machine Learning Driven Interpretation of Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations to Develop Student Intuition

Patterson, N

2020

Employers need engineers capable of leveraging CFD simulations to make intelligent design decisions, but undergraduate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) courses are not adequately preparing students for this type of work. CFD courses commonly familiarize students with topics, such as method derivation, domain creation, boundary conditions, mesh convergence, turbulence models, numerical convergence, and error analysis. This approach is an effective way to teach novices how CFD software works and how to prepare CFD analyses. However, it neglects development of higher level CFD skills and intuition important to engineering analysis and design, deferring this task to future study and training. This paper introduces the “Machine Learning Driven Interpretation of Fluid Dynamics Simulations to Develop Student Intuition” (MIFoS) software, a program designed to help CFD novices develop the high‐level skills and intuition that employers need in their engineers. A data‐driven approach was used to create the MIFoS software, which allows the submission of arbitrary geometries, automates an external flow simulation, and returns expert‐level graphical interpretation of simulation data. MIFoS's automated CFD simulation and feedback space allows novices to experiment with expert‐level suggestions on their own designs, enabling the skill and intuition development typically gained through years of study, practice, and expert guidance.

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The Effects of RFID and EDI Technologies on Supply Chain Dynamics

Nathan J. Patterson, Jeffrey F. Rhoads & Sangtae Kim

2015

Process automation and information sharing are becoming increasingly important to the successful operation of supply chains. While previous works have investigated the effects of radio frequency identification (RFID), electronic data interchange (EDI), and other transparency technologies on model production/distribution systems, the studies completed to date have not fully examined the implications of these technologies on the supply chains' dynamic behaviour. This is especially true for supply chains which feature heterogeneously implemented transparency technologies. The present work seeks to fill this apparent technical void, by characterizing the impact of both heterogeneously and homogeneously implemented EDI and RFID technologies on the system dynamics of a prototypical multi-stage supply chain model: the beer distribution game. To this end, the effort utilizes high-throughput numerical simulation to characterize the influence of transparency technologies on transient performance metrics (e.g. settling time, cost, and stock outages), and to form a series of succinct conclusions on the technologies' relative utility.

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Games and Simulations in Informal Science Education

Squire, K. & Patterson, NJ

2010

This paper explores the possibilities and challenges games and simulations pose for
informal science education. Three crucial opportunities (and related challenges) shape the field:
1. Diversity of contexts, goals, and methods
2. “Outside the box.”
3. Interest-driven, individualized learning

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